Rail clip



April 16, 1968 W. C. M CORMICK RAIL CLIP Filed Sept. 19, 1966 4 w o M m m w n c /MWN. M m. m. C M. w wxm w W BY E 6? mason-J w A T o NEYs United States Patent 3,378,200 RAIL CLIP William C. McCormick, 1430 Lakewood Road, Jacksonville, Fla. 32207 Filed Sept. 19, 1966, Ser. No. 580,301 6 Claims. (Cl. 238349) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A set of clips to fasten a rail to a crosstie, including a field clip and a gage clip, wherein the field clip has an abutment to hold the rail to gage and a toe spaced from, but overlying, the rail flange to allow limited vertical rail movement, and the gage clip has an abutment to hold the rail to gage and a tongue in resilient contact with the rail flange to prevent down-rail run.

This invention relates to clips for holding rail in place on crossties, and particularly to clips for holding rail upon prestressed concrete crossties where the clips are attached to the crossties by means of bolts threaded into anchors embedded in the concrete.

When a train passes along a track, it creates a condition in the rail known as wave action. This causes an actual wave of measurable amplitude to pass down the rail, with actual lifting and depression of the rail. If the rail is rigidly attached to the ties, the entire track structure (rails and ties) will be caused to rise and fall as the wave passes down the rail. This will cause pumping of the ties in the ballast, which is undesirable, and also places very high stresses on the clip attaching bolts and embedded anchors.

There is another rail movement which must be considered in securing the rail to crossties, and this is the tendency of the rail to move, or run, in a down-rail direction, caused by thermal and mechanical forces. This'tendency of the rail to run must be restrained with a force sufficient to nearly equal that required to move the tie in the ballast.

The general object of the present invention is to provide clips which will hold the rail absolutely to gage, yet allow the rail-some vertical movement to permit the wave action with minimum movement of the crossties, while restraining the rail against down-rail run.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a set of clips, one of which will hold the rail to gage while allowing some vertical movement, and the other serving to maintain gage and restrain against down-rail run.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a specific clip for the outer, or field, side of the rail, which will hold the rail to gage yet allow some unrestrained vertical movement.

A further object of the invention is to provide a field cli for rails which will hold the rail against outward movement, with all pressure by the rail against the clip being resisted by the crosstie without strain upon the securing bolt or anchor.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of one practical embodiment thereof, when taken in conjunction with the drawings which accompany, and form part of, this specification.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of one end of a crosstie with a rail seated thereon and held in place by the clip combination of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged vertical section through the structure shown in FIGURE 1, taken on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1; and

3,373,200 Patented Apr. 16, 1968 "ice FIGURE 3 is an exploded perspective view of the crosstie, rail, and securing means.

In general, the invention concerns a pair of clips for use in securing a rail to a concrete. tie so as to allow the rail free wave action yet hold it absolutely to gage and restrain it against down-rail run. This invention is also concerned with the specific clip structure used on the field side of the rail.

Referring to the drawings in detail, there is shown a rail I mounted upon a crosstie 2. The rail 1 may be of the usual sectional length, or in the more common form used in present day installation the so-called welded rail, wherein the sections are welded together to form a continuous monolithic length. The tie 2 is of the prer stressed concrete type, having pre-formed rail seats 3 and embedded anchors 4. As is customary in mounting rails on concrete crossties, a plastic tie pad 5 having its ends notched, as shown at 6, is put upon the rail seat 3 and the rail rests upon the pad.

The rail is held in place upon the tie by means of a rigid field clip 7 on the outer side of the rail, and a combination clip 8 consisting of a gage plate 9 and a spring clip 10 on the inner side of the rail. Although the specific combination clip 8 is the invention of another, it will be described in detail herein so that the set of clips 7 and 8, and their combined action on the rail, may be understood.

Field clip 7 is made from a steel plate, and has a generally horizontal body section 11, with a depressed, curved heel 12 at one end. At the opposite end of the body the plates rises vertically to provide an abutment flange 13, and the clip terminates in a forwardly extending toe 14. The body portion of the clip has a central opening 15 through which the reduced diameter lower end of a shoulder bolt 16 passes.

Rail seat 3 in the crosstie terminates on the outside in a concave, transversely extending pocket 17, while the seat terminates on the inside in a curved shoulder 1%. After a rail is in place on the tie: pad 5, a rigid clip '7 will be seated on the rail seat with its body portion 11 resting on the seat. Heel 12 of the clip will have the curved shape of pocket 17 and will fit closely within the pocket. The clip is so proportioned that abutment flange 13 will be in bearing contact with the outside base of the rail when the heel is seated in the pocket. At this time, toe 14 will be overlying the upper surface of the base flange of the rail, in spaced relation with that sunface, and extending parallel to it. In order to accomplish this, the toe 14 must incline from the abutment 13 at the same angle as the upper surface of the base flange of the rail. When the clip is in this position, shoulder bolt in is inserted through opening 14 and. its lower end 19 threaded into the anchor 4. Bolt 16 is screwed into anchor 4 until the shoulder 20 of the bolt is in contact with the body 11 of the field clip and is pressing the body firmly aginst the rail seat of the crosstie. The clip will now be held firmly in place with the abutment 13 in contact with the base edge of the rail. This will hold the rail against outward movement yet, due to the spacing of toe 14 from the rail base, the rail is free to rise the distance required by the wave action. It will be seen that outward forces exerted by the rail against the abutment flange will be transmitted directly through the body of the clip to the heel, seated in pocket 17, and to the tie. Thus, there is no strain imposed. upon the bolt 16.

Combination inner clip 8 has gage plate 9 to resist lateral movement of the rail, and spring clip 10 to restrain the rail against longitudinal running. Insofar as the present invention is concerned, it is only necessary that the inner clip have these functions. It will be noted that the spring clip 10 has a curved end 21 which seats against the curved shoulder 18 of the rail seat in the crosstie, and an elongated flexible lip 22 to bear upon the flange of the rail. The gage plate has a vertical abutment flange 23 and an inverted V-shaped body 24, having one section 25 adjacent the abutment flange 23 and a second section 26 having its end 27 seated against the inner wall of the curved end 21 of the spring clip. Spring clip 1% has a bolt hole 28 through the flexible lip portion 22, and gage plate Q has a bolt hole 29 at the vertex of the V-shaped body at the juncture of the sections 25 and 26. A bolt 30 through these openings threads in the anchor 4 to hold the parts in proper position. It will be seen that the gage plate is held against movement lengthwise of the tie by reason of its bearing against the curved section of spring clip 10 which, in turn, is in engagement with shoulder 18 of the tie. The clip elements are so proportioned that there will be a slight clearance between the abutment flange 23 and the base of the rail. Tightening bolt 30 will cause the flexible lip 22 of spring clip 10 to bear upon the rail flange with suflicient force to resist its tendency to run in a down rail direction. The combination clip 8 and its action is described in more detail in a companion application filed by Robert S. Baker, the inventor of the combination clip.

When the set of clips is in place, the rail is held against appreciable movement in a lateral direction and, therefore, will be held accurately to gage. It will be noted that there can be no movement of the rail in a field direction. At the same time, the rail is free to move vertically, insofar as the field clip 7 is concerned, and will be held down yieldably by the spring clip 10. Thus, the rail can move vertically to accommodate normal wave action yet be held to gage during this movement. At the same time, the tendency of the rail to creep or run in a down rail direction is resisted by the pressure of the spring clip upon the rail flange. This downward resistant force will be sufiicient to hold the rail against movement longitudinally without simultaneous lateral shifting of the crosstie. This is sufiicient to prevent any longitudinal movement of the rail relative to the crosstie. It is believed that the invention resides in a set of clips for hold- .ing a rail to a concrete tie as described while permitting 4 take other forms within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A set of clips for securing a rail to a crosstie having a rail seat thereon with means forming shoulders at the ends of the rail seat comprising, a field clip having means for sliding abutment with one base edge of the railand to abut a shoulder of the rail seat to hold the rail against lateral movement in the direction of the field clip, and means on the field clip to hold the rail against vertical movement beyond a predetermined distance, and a gage clip having means for sliding abutment with a rail flange to hold the rail against lateral movement toward the gage clip and means for overlying contact with the rail flange to restrain the rail against longitudinal movement.

2. A set of clips for securing a rail to a crosstie as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the means to hold the rail against vertical movement beyond a predetermined distance comprises a toe overhanging the base flange of the rail and spaced therefrom.

3. A set of clips for securing a rail to a crosstie as claimed in claim 2 wherein, there are means to secure the field and gage clips to the crosstie.

4. A field clip for securing a rail to a crosstie having a rail seat with a concave pocket at the field end thereof and an anchor embedded in the crosstie adjacent the field end of the rail seat comprising, a body adapted to rest upon the the rail seat, an abutment flange rising vertically at one end of the body for contact with one edge of the base of the rail to prevent lateral movement of the rail in a field direction, a curved heel at the other end of the body to seat in the concave pocket in the crosstie, and means passing through the body and into the anchor to hold the clip upon the rail seat.

5. A field clip for securing a rail to a crosstie as claimed in claim 4 wherein, there is a toe projecting from the abutment flange to overlie the rail base flange in spaced relation thereto, to allow limited vertical movement to the rail.

6. A field clip for securing a rail to a crosstie as claimed in claim 5 wherein the clip is rigid.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,309,023 3/1967 Burwell 238349 2,095,462 10/1937 Willard 238349 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

R. A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner. 

